Acquisitions

Incremental Group

Glasgow-based digital technology services company Incremental Group, has acquired Gap Consulting, a Microsoft Gold Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Partner.

This acquisition takes Incremental’s headcount to 125 across the company’s three main locations: Glasgow, Inverurie in Aberdeenshire and now Northwich in Cheshire, as well as sales offices in London and its new Manchester location, which opened in Q1 2018.

Incremental works alongside commercial and public sector organisations to enable digital transformation, with a particular focus on Microsoft Dynamics. The company also provides intelligence, cloud, applications and consultancy services.

Gap Consulting is headquartered in Northwich and currently employs 40 people.  Gap operates in complementary vertical markets to Incremental, with particular focus on health, professional services and not-for-profit sectors.

Neil Logan, CEO and co-founder of Incremental Group, said: “Gap Consulting is a great fit for Incremental, we now have a wider UK coverage to build from and an even stronger team in place to help both government and industry undertake the kind of digital transformation that is required by every organisation that needs to optimise operations and remain competitive.”

“The team at Gap brings deep expertise in CRM and together with our own skill set, we are excited about the opportunities ahead as we continue to make significant inroads in the commercial and public sectors.”

CityFibre

The acquisition of fibre optic broadband infrastructure provider CityFibre, which was announced in April 2018, has been completed.

The CityFibre shares were acquired by Connect Infrastructure Bidco Limited, a newly formed company indirectly jointly-controlled by a consortium formed by Antin Infrastructure Partners and West Street Infrastructure Partners – a fund managed by Goldman Sachs – was completed on 21 June 2018.

Trading on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in CityFibre shares was suspended with effect from 7.30am on 21 June 2018. It is expected that cancellation of CityFibre’s shares admission to trading on AIM shall take effect at 8.00am on 22 June 2018.

CityFibre shares were acquired for £0.81 in cash, a 92.9% premium on the Closing Price of £0.42 per share on 23 April 2018, valuing the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of the company at approximately £537.8 million.

Greg Mesch, Chief Executive of CityFibre, commented: “Having shaken up the UK telecoms market over the last five years and sparked the race to deliver a full fibre future for Britain, this transaction will enable CityFibre to accelerate our deployment of transformational digital infrastructure still further. These are exciting times, and as the only builder of scale, CityFibre is ideally positioned to make the most of this opportunity to modernise the UK’s digital infrastructure.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the shareholders who have supported us since our initial listing on AIM. We have raised over £320m on AIM and believe that without the support of the capital markets, our progress both operationally and strategically would not have been so rapid.”

Philippe Camus, Global Head of West Street Infrastructure Partners and Mark Crosbie, Managing Partner of Antin Infrastructure Partners, said: “We are delighted to be supporting CityFibre through its next cycle of growth and believe the business is ideally placed to continue to transform the UK telecommunications market. With the need for next generation infrastructure growing at pace, the provision of high quality fibre networks is vital to the ongoing economic development of the UK, and CityFibre sits firmly at the centre of that structural shift.”

Arm

Global mobile chip leader Arm, has announced that it has acquired Glasgow-based Stream Technologies to expand its Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and device management capabilities.

Arm believes that the deal will enable it to further develop its Mbed IoT Device Management Platform and offer organisations with a robust, scalable  end-to-end platform for managing, connecting and updating IoT devices. For Arm – and consumers – this scalability is a critical factor considering the sheer number of devices currently, and the millions that will follow in years to come.

The cost of the acquisition has not been disclosed by Arm.

Founded in 2000, Glasgow-based Stream is an innovative player in connectivity management technologies and maintains over 700,000 managed subscribers, with an average daily traffic of 2TB per day.

Hima Mukkamala, senior vice president and general manager of IoT Cloud Services said in a statement: “The addition of the Stream team to Arm accelerates our mission to securely manage IoT complexities from chip to the cloud, enabling our customers to focus their efforts on deriving real actionable insights from the data generated by their connected devices.”

CYBG

Virgin Money has agreed to be taken over by Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group (CYBG) in a £1.7 billion deal. By reducing the overlap between their operations, the banks expect to make £120 million of annual savings by 2021.

CYBG is paying 1.2125 of it’s own shares in exchange for each Virgin Money share. Based on Friday’s closing price of 306p, this values each Virgin Money share at 371p.

Virgin Money’s Chief Executive, Jayne-Anne Gadhia, said: “The combination of Virgin Money with CYBG will have greater scale to challenge the big banks. It will also accelerate the delivery of our strategic objectives, particularly the expansion of the products we offer to customers.”

CYBG Chairman, Jim Pettigrew, said: “It is clear to us that the combined group can transform the UK banking landscape and offer real benefits to customers and communities throughout the UK. Since our IPO in 2016, the CYBG board and leadership team has established CYBG as a strong and sustainable business, with a track record of delivery and the credentials to deliver a transformational combination with Virgin Money.”

Funding

EBar

The Aberdeen-based startup and 2017 Scottish EDGE winner has secured £300,000 in funding to help further develop its ‘dispensing technology’ to reduce the time that pub-goers spend waiting in queues. This innovative new tech has the potential to add a new level of convenience to your hospitality experience.

Funding is led by London-based Jenson Funding Partners SEIS and EIS Fund, who are also joined by Scottish investors such as Gabriel and Equity Gap.

EBar claims that its technology can perfectly serve pints of beer or soft drinks up to three times faster than by traditional methods, serving two beverages in just 20 seconds. The funding secured by EBar will be used to further develop its product and build initial units. Additionally, it will look to integrate the dispenser product with payment technologies; streamlining the entire process of ordering drinks.

Co-founder Sam Pettipher said: “We have already demonstrated that our technology works, and this funding injection provides us with capital to develop a production EBar unit. We look forward to launching it with our partner venue operators later this year.”

As part of the funding deal, Stuart Gilmore will join EBar Initiatives as Jenson’s investment director. Gilmore highlighted that seeking out and supporting innovative companies such as EBar can help unlock their potential.

Mr Gilmore said: “Jenson seeks out and invests in the most innovative and disruptive companies. We look forward to working with the team to help them realise the tremendous potential of their technology.”

MiiGen

Miigen, the Scottish start-up which has created a ‘digital scrapbook’ which allows older people to safely store ‘memories that matter’ has opened a crowd funding campaign on ShareIn and hopes to raise £500,000 to help the company expand internationally.

The crowdfunding campaign follows a successful first round of funding secured in July 2017, which Miigen secured £250,000. That in turn supplemented the company’s earlier bootstrapped funding of £200,000.

“The appetite for investment in Miigen has already been amply demonstrated in our pre-seed funding,” said co-founder and CEO Craig Lemmon. “We expect this next funding round to be equally successful and to facilitate our continued expansion.”

“The money will be used to recruit new staff across a range of skills in what has been described as a “major expansion in high-quality employment”. There will also be investment in public relations, marketing and the development of a new tool for customer acquisition.”

Following the crowd funding round, Miigen is further making plans to launch a major funding round in the US in December of next year. The current aim of this is to raise $10m (£7.5m).

Miigen currently has 40,000 users in 102 countries and following an international marketing campaign, extending over 25 countries, in five languages, hopes to raise this to around 100,000.

Dunedin

Dunedin, the Edinburgh-based private equity firm, has invested £44 million of funding in Global Processing Services (GPS) the global payments processor which power many of the world’s leading fintech companies, challenger banks and financial institutions.

The funding is the 3rd largest fintech investment thus far in 2018 and Dunedin will take a significant – though undisclosed – stake in the business.

GPS’ Apex technology enables next generation payment technology for over 100 clients including Starling Bank, Revolut, Pockit, Volt Bank, Loot, Stocard, Glint, Osper and Curve.

Oliver Bevan, Partner at Dunedin, who will sit on the GPS Board, commented: “GPS is positively disrupting a multi-billion-pound industry and is well placed to continue leading the way following the rise of other highly successful fin-tech companies.

“We are really excited to be investing in GPS which represents a significant opportunity for Dunedin to utilise its experience in taking UK companies with a technological edge and enabling them to shine on the international stage.

“We will support the management team and founders to help GPS to become a truly global leader in this niche market.”

Suresh Vaghjiani, the Managing Director at GPS said: “GPS has experienced exceptional growth over the last few years and we have always prided ourselves on the diverse fin-tech customer base that we service.

“This partnership with Dunedin will see GPS accelerate even further as innovative fin-tech companies increasingly require global issuing platforms as well as traditional financial institutions looking to compete with new entrants.”

Tony Kerr, co-founder of GPS commented: “The partnership with Dunedin is another important milestone for GPS and we look forward to working with them to take the next step on our exciting growth path.

“The investment will give us extra firepower to facilitate continued growth, strengthen our offering and expand our global footprint.”

Partnerships

Assure APM

Edinburgh-based IT cyber security and performance monitoring solutions company Assure APM has partnered with award winning Scottish cyber security company ZoneFox, the Scottish company behind a unique security solution that locks down insider threats.

In combination with its Illumio micro segmentation security offering, Assure APM can now provide seamless cyber security protection in the datacentre, in any cloud and on most end user devices.

Doug More, CEO of Assure APM, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with such an innovative company and to be able to offer ZoneFox’s powerful security platform as part of our automated advanced performance management solution.

“The system employs user and entity behaviour analytics (UEBA) and machine learning to create a picture of what normal network activity looks like and then provides an alert on any deviation from this in a form that is easily understood by anyone in the business. ZoneFox’s technology provides a superb complimentary solution and alongside Illumio we can now create a unique range of security solutions for an entire IT enterprise.

“Cyber security is quite rightly a hot topic and truly essential for all businesses. With this partnership we are proud to be able to offer award winning, world-class security as a standard part of our offering. Organisations moving to cloud environments are faced with a whole new set of security questions that we are now able to answer.”

Dr Jamie Graves, CEO of ZoneFox, commented: “We were impressed with the drive and innovation of Doug and his team at Assure APM.

“We are confident that our recently released ZoneFox 4.0 in conjunction with Assure’s innovative technology will be a winning combination. It will allow businesses full visibility and control of their IT networks, offer realtime information and analysis on threats, and spot and stop problems before they happen.”

Previse

Professional services firm PwC will become the preferred implementer for Previse’s AI-driven instant supplier payments programme for large corporates. The consultancy will offer Previse’s platform as part of its work helping clients to implement improved supplier payments processes and working capital optimisation.

Previse’s machine learning driven instant payments programme enables businesses to ensure all their recurring suppliers, even the smallest supplier, can be paid instantly at a fraction of the cost of other finance options such as factoring. Previse is cheaper, easier and safer than alternates. In addition, Previse provides a meaningful new recurring stream of revenue for the corporate buyers which implement it, via a data access fee for access to the buyer’s invoice data.

Daniel Windaus from PwC said: “Clients value their suppliers highly and are very aware of the risks, reputational and legal, which slow payments place on their own businesses. However, payment processes cannot be transformed overnight. Firms still have to deal with the realities of existing technology, compliance and risk management.

“The Previse solution is particularly compelling because it circumvents many of these challenges and can reach all of a firm’s suppliers without requiring root and branch change within the large corporate. Companies choosing to implement Previse can, without significant cost and quickly become a fast payer in their market and reap the significant competitive advantages which come with that.”

Paul Christensen, CEO of Previse, said: “There are trillions of dollars tied up in slow payments across the world economy. Releasing that money back into small businesses will have a transformative effect on growth, innovation and employment everywhere. By harnessing the untapped value in invoice data, we have created the tools to enable large companies to do just that.

“Welcoming PwC as our preferred implementer will enable us to accelerate and scale our vision of a cash-on-delivery world.”

Commsworld

The Scottish Borders are set to benefit from connection speeds that are comparable to those found in Edinburgh or Glasgow thanks to a collaboration between GB Technologies and Commsworld.

GB Technologies, which is headquartered in Galashiels, will collaborate with Commsworld to provide what it claims will be a “next generation network” capable of delivering speeds 500 times faster than the average UK broadband connection.

According to GB Technologies, every area in the Borders will have access to the network, enabling greater upload speeds, easier transfer of files and boosting cloud connectivity exponentially.

Charlie Boisseau, Chief Operating Officer at Commsworld says this will help revolutionise network connectivity in the Borders, stating: “This kind of network is able to identify the most efficient route when two connected users are trying to speak to each other – a bit like being in Galashiels and using the A7 to get to Hawick, rather than taking a detour via London.

“The work GB Technologies is doing is fantastic and we are always incredibly eager to work with quality partners based in the areas we are providing connectivity for.

“The next generation network is a great example of what a collaborative and local approach can do for the customers in less densely populated areas.”

Gordon Brown, Founder and Chairman of GB Technologies said: “The infrastructure now in place in the Scottish Borders has the potential to have a transformative effect on the region’s business landscape.

“For us, working with another Scottish business rather than a multinational brings a number of benefits to us and our customers.

“The personal service we receive and the focus on providing a genuinely Scottish network enables us to provide local firms with a package that provides speeds that some of the larger network providers are not interested in or able to offer.”

Results

SHE Software

East Kilbride-based software developer SHE Software has revealed record annual results for 2017-2018. The company has grown rapidly over the past 12 months, continuing the 60% per annum growth rate of the past three years and seeing revenues fast approach £4 million.

The company’s state-of-the-art health and safety software solution, Assure – a highly configurable web-based system and mobile app that reduces risk for organisations by simplifying health and safety management – is at the heart of its success, boasting more than half a million users around the world.

Now, following a £3m funding boost from NVM Private Equity, the firm is building its international reach. May saw the launch of a new centre of operations in Chicago, adding US interests to an existing and well-established APAC customer base, with its hub in New Zealand.

To support its development in the UK and internationally, almost 30 jobs have been created in the past 12 months, taking the innovative company’s headcount from 46 to 75.

Matthew Elson, CEO of SHE Software said: “The past year has been our busiest and most successful yet.

“We believe strongly in our product and our people. The fact that we are attracting solid investment, achieving ambitious targets, attracting talented new colleagues and expanding internationally in challenging economic times shows the work that we put in, and the scale of our ambition.”

Nucleus Financial

Nucleus Financial the award-winning Edinburgh-based ‘wrap platform’, reported that it generated an operating profit of £5.1 million, for the year ended December 2017. This represents a 19% increase on 2016’s profit of £4.3m.

The company’s assets under administration (AUA) reached £13.6 billion at the end of 2017 as a result of a rising equity market and an increase in net inflows over the course of the year. This is an increase of 22% compared to the AUA of £11.1bn at the end of 2016

Gross inflows increased by 41% to £2.6bn thanks to improved market sentiment and investor confidence. Net inflows for the full year increased by 72% from £1.0bn to £1.7bn representing a gross/net ratio of 64%.

Revenue increased by 21% to £40.4m in 2017, from £33.3m reported for 2016.

David Ferguson, the founder and CEO of Nucleus told DIGIT: “Our focus on attracting long-term net inflows and growing AUA has delivered another year of strong results for Nucleus. The advised platform market continues to grow strongly and our audience continues to thrive. We are better positioned than ever before to take advantage of the significant growth opportunities in the platform sector over the coming years.

“We have invested heavily in large-scale infrastructure initiatives over the past three years to lay the foundations for the next stage of our growth. I believe we are poised to accelerate this progress even further over the coming year by remaining fully committed to investing in next generation technology and enhancing a platform proposition that has been designed hand in hand with advisers, for the express benefit of them and their clients.”

Public Sector

Glasgow City Council

Funding for an innovative new ‘solar’ car park in central Glasgow has been secured from the EU Horizon 2020 fund.

The £940k fund is going to be used to transform the council-owned car park on Duke Street in Glasgow into a solar power centre. The revamped car park will be primarily used to power the car park, which includes ten electric vehicle charging points.

The plan is to construct a huge canopy of solar panels on the roof of the car park to absorb energy covering the equivalent of 130 car parking spaces. It is expected it will be fully operational by 2019. Once its energy system is in place, it will be monitored and evaluated for two years before wider learning is shared.

Councillor Anna Richardson said: “This is an exciting and dynamic project that can take Glasgow closer to our goal of becoming the most sustainable city in Europe. Horizon 2020 funding is only ever awarded for projects that can demonstrate innovation that has the potential to be picked up and used elsewhere.

“We hope the Duke St scheme will eventually be replicated on car parks all across the city, but we also hope that other cities across Europe can learn from what’s happening in Glasgow. Developing robust relationships between all the organisations involved will be the key to the success of the Duke Street car park project.

“It is far more efficient and cost-effective to gather and deliver energy locally and this project can show us a way to tackle fuel poverty. Sustainable energy districts have the potential to transform how we power Glasgow.”